Mandarin orange

Mandarin orange
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Rutaceae
Genus:	Citrus
Species:	C. reticulata
Binomial name
Citrus reticulata Blanco , 1837

A mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata), also known as mandarin or mandarine, is a small, rounded citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange,^[1] it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads.^[1] Tangerines are a group of orange-colored citrus fruit consisting of hybrids of mandarin orange with some pomelo contribution.

The mandarin orange is smaller and oblate,

Citrus reticulata is from Latin, where reticulata means "netted".[7]

Citrus reticulata is a moderate-sized tree some 7.6 metres (25 ft) in height.

Mandarin orange fruits are small 40–80 millimetres (1.6–3.1 in).

Dried mandarin peel used as a seasoning

Chocolate-coated citrus peel

Peeled and canned mandarin orange segments

Mandarins are generally peeled and eaten fresh or used in salads, desserts and main dishes.^[1] Fresh mandarin juice and frozen juice concentrate are commonly available in the United States. The number of seeds in each segment (carpel) varies greatly. Fresh mandarins are also used in the production of some drinks and spirits, such as Mandarine Napoléon.

The peel is used fresh, whole or zested, or dried as chenpi. It can be used as a spice for cooking, baking, drinks, or candy. Essential oil from the fresh peel may be used as a flavouring for candy, in gelatins, ice cream, chewing gum, and baked goods.^[1] It is also used as a flavouring in liqueurs.^[1] In Chinese cuisine, the peel of the mandarin orange, called chenpi, is used to flavor sweet dishes and sauces.^{[citation needed]}

Canned mandarin segments are peeled to remove the white pith before canning; otherwise, they turn bitter. Segments are peeled using a chemical process. First, the segments are scalded in hot water to loosen the skin; then, they are bathed in a

]

Nutrition

Mandarin oranges, raw

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy	223 kJ (53 kcal)
Carbohydrates	13.34 g
Sugars	10.58 g
Dietary fibre	1.8 g
Fat	0.31 g
Protein	0.81 g
Vitamins and minerals Niacin (B3) 2% 0.376 mg Pantothenic acid (B5) 4% 0.216 mg Vitamin B6 5% 0.078 mg Folate (B9) 4% 16 μg Choline 2% 10.2 mg Vitamin C 30% 26.7 mg Vitamin E 1% 0.2 mg Minerals Quantity %DV† Calcium 3% 37 mg Iron 1% 0.15 mg Magnesium 3% 12 mg Manganese 2% 0.039 mg Phosphorus 2% 20 mg Potassium 6% 166 mg Sodium 0% 2 mg Zinc 1% 0.07 mg
Other constituents	Quantity
Water	85.2 g
Link to USDA Database entry
†Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults,[10] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies.[11]

A mandarin orange contains 85% water, 13%

Daily Value

) in a 100-gram reference serving, with all other nutrients in low amounts.

Cultural significance

In Canada and the United States, they are commonly purchased in 5- or 10-pound boxes,

Satsumas were also grown in the United States from the early 1900s. Still, Japan remained a major supplier.^[15] U.S. imports of these Japanese oranges was suspended due to hostilities with Japan during World War II.^[12] While they were one of the first Japanese goods allowed for export after the end of the war, residual hostility led to the rebranding of these oranges as "Mandarin" oranges instead of "Japanese" oranges.^[12]

The delivery of the first batch of mandarin oranges from Japan in the port of Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada) is greeted with a festival that combines Santa Claus and Japanese dancers^[14]—young girls dressed in traditional kimono.^[16]

Historically, the Christmas fruit sold in North America was mostly

In Canadian literature, particularly in Gabrielle Roy's novel about Montreal, The Tin Flute, a mandarin orange figures as a touch of luxury for the dying son of the poor Lacasse family, around which the novel is woven.^{[citation needed]} Mandarin oranges are mentioned in Sinclair Ross' 1942 novel, As for Me and My House, and his 1939 short story, Cornet at Night.^[18]

Mandarins are one of the pure ancestral citrus

The Nanling Mountains are also home to northern and southern genetic clusters of domestic mandarins that have similar levels of sugars in the fruit compared to their wild relatives but appreciably (in some almost 90-fold) lower levels of citric acid. The clusters display different patterns of pomelo introgression, have different deduced historical population histories, and are most closely related to distinct wild mandarins, suggesting two independent domestications in the north and south.[21] All tested domesticated cultivars were found to belong to one of these two genetic clusters, with varieties such as Nanfengmiju, Kishu and Satsuma deriving from the northern domestication event producing larger, redder fruit, while Willowleaf, Dancy, Sunki, Cleopatra, King, Ponkan, and others derived from the smaller, yellower-fruited southern cluster.^[21]

The

• Mangshan wild mandarins (only some, others being the genetically distinct mangshanyegan)^[21]
• Daoxian mandarines^[21]
• Suanpangan^[21]

(Species names are those from the Tanaka system. Recent genomic analysis would place them all in Citrus reticulata,^[2] except the C. ryukyuensis hybrids^[20])

• Sun Chu Sha^[19][2]
• Nanfengmiju - one of China's most widely cultivated varieties.^[25]
• Cleopatra mandarin,^[19] acidic mandarin containing very small amount of pomelo introgression.^[2]
• Sunki,^[19] acidic mandarin containing very small amount of pomelo introgression.^[2]
• Dancy, Sunburst or Murcott (Honey) cultivars. Some tangerine × grapefruit hybrids are legally sold as tangerines in the US.^[27][28]
• Mediterranean/Willowleaf/Thorny (Citrus × deliciosa), a mandarin with small amounts of pomelo.^[29]
• Dalanghita (Citrus reticulata) is a smaller mandarin endemic widely cultivated in the Philippines. Also known by other local names, naranghita and sintones.^[30]
• Huanglingmiao (Citrus reticulata), a mandarin–pomelo hybrid.^[2][31]
• Kishumikan (Citrus reticulata), or simply Kishu, a close clonal relative of Huanglingmiao, the two sharing a common origin before diverging as they were propagated^[2]
  • Kunenbo (Citrus nobilis) a heterogeneous group that includes at least four distinct mandarin-pomelo hybrids.^[32]
    • King (in full, 'King of Siam', Citrus nobilis) a Kunenbo mandarin with high levels of pomelo admixture, sometimes classed as a tangor.^[2][32]
      • Kinnow (see image), a King × Willowleaf hybrid.
    • Satsuma (Citrus unshiu), a mandarin × pomelo hybrid with more pomelo than seen in most mandarins. It derived from a cross between a Huanglingmiao/Kishu and a non-King Kunenbo that was itself a pomelo × Huanglingmiao/Kishu cross.^[2][32] It is a seedless variety, of which there are over 200 cultivars, including Wenzhou migana, Owari, and mikan; the source of most canned mandarins, and popular as a fresh fruit due to its ease of consumption
      • Owari, a well-known Satsuma cultivar that ripens during the late autumn
  • Komikan, a variety of Kishumikan^[32]
• The Ponkan (Citrus reticulata), a mandarin–pomelo hybrid^[19][29]
  • The
    Dancy tangerine (Citrus tangerina) is a hybrid, the cross of a Ponkan with another unidentified hybrid mandarin.^[2] Until the 1970s, most tangerines grown and eaten in the US were Dancys, and it was known as "Christmas tangerine"^[17] and zipper-skin tangerine^[33]
    • Iyokan (Citrus iyo), a cross between the Dancy tangerine and another Japanese mandarin variety, the kaikoukan.^[32]
• Bang Mot tangerine, a mandarin variety popular in Thailand.
• Shekwasha (Citrus depressa), a group of clonal citrus that arose from multiple independent natural crosses of C. ryukyuensis with a Sun Chu Sha relative,^[20]
  a very sour mandarin grown for its acidic juice.
• Tachibana, also a cluster of similar clones, deriving from natural crosses between different individual C. ryukyuensis and a clonal C. reticulata lineage with both northern and southern subspecies contribution.^[20]
• Kinnow, also known as Pakistani mandarin is popular variety in Pakistan and Middle East.

• Tangelos, a generic term for modern mandarin (tangerine) × pomelo and mandarin × grapefruit crosses
  • The Mandelo or 'cocktail grapefruit', a cross between a Dancy/King mixed mandarin and a pomelo.^[2] The term is also sometimes used generically, like a tangelo, for recent mandarin × pomelo hybrids.
• The
  sour orange (Citrus x aurantium) derives from a direct cross between a pure mandarin and a pomelo^[31]
  • Lemon (Citrus x limon), a sour orange × citron hybrid.^[34]
    • Lime (Citrus x latifolia), a lemon × Key lime cross^[34]
    • Bergamot orange (Citrus x bergamia), a lemon × sour orange backcross^[34]
  • Limetta (Citrus limetta), a distinct sour orange × citron hybrid^[34]
• The common sweet orange (Citrus x sinensis) derives from a cross between a non-pure mandarin and pomelo parents^[31]
  • Tangors, or Temple oranges, are crosses between the mandarin orange and the common sweet orange;^[31] their thick rind is easy to peel, and its bright orange pulp is sour-sweet and full-flavoured. Some such hybrids are commonly called mandarins or tangerines.
    • Clementine (Citrus × clementina), a spontaneous hybrid between a Willowleaf mandarin orange and a sweet orange.^[29][35] sometimes known as a "Thanksgiving Orange" or "Christmas orange", as its peak season is winter; an important commercial mandarin orange form, having displaced mikans in many markets.
      • Clemenules or Nules, a variety of Clementine named for the Valencian town where it was first bred in 1953; it is the most popular variety of Clementine grown in Spain.^[36]
      • Fairchild is a hybrid of Clementine and Orlando
        tangelo
    • Murcott, a mandarin × sweet orange hybrid,^[29][37] one parent being the King.^[32]
      • Tango is a proprietary seedless mid-late season irradiated selection of Murcott developed by the University of California Citrus Breeding Program.^[8]
    • Kiyomi (Citrus unshiu × sinensis) is a Satsuma/sweet orange hybrid from Japan
      • Dekopon, a hybrid between Kiyomi and ponkan, marketed in the United States as Sumo Citrus(R)
  • Grapefruit (Citrus x paradisi), the result of backcrossing the sweet orange with pomelo
  • Meyer lemon (Citrus x meyer), a cross between a mandarin × pomelo hybrid and a citron.^[34]
  • Palestinian sweet lime (Citrus x limettioides), a distinct (mandarin × pomelo) × citron hybrid^[34]
• Rangpur lime (Citrus x limonia), a pure-mandarin × citron cross^[34]
• Rough lemon (Citrus x jambhiri), a pure-mandarin × citron cross, distinct from rangpur^[34]
• Volkamer lemon (Citrus volkameriana), a pure-mandarin x citron cross, distinct from rangpur and rough lemon
• Jabara (Citrus jabara), a Kunenbo mandarin × yuzu cross.^[32]
• several of the kumquat-hybrid
  orangequat, mandarinquat and sunquat

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Citrus reticulata.

Wikispecies has information related to Citrus reticulata.